By Adebayo Olodan
The pastor of Wonders of God’s Grace, Ilorin, Chikodi Okorie, is presently cooling his feet in police custody following his recent arrest over alleged burglary of a warehouse.
Okorie was said to have been arrested by officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS) at his church located at Railway line, Post Office area, Ilorin following tip off by a black marketer in the area.
The undisclosed black marketer who was on his way to getting fuel at a filling station in Post Office area, recently, was said to have discovered the suspicious movement of Okorie 4:00am around the warehouse located just under his church on the same building.
According to a source, conversant with the issue, “each time the warehouse owner, one Chief Pius, takes delivery of goods, the pastor will overnight loot the warehouse thereby moving goods, mainly clothing items from the facility to his residential home.
“The owner of the warehouse had severally lodged complaint over the case of burglary at the Police headquarters but no one had been arrested or traced to the incident.
“It was not until recently when a black marketer who normally frequent Post Office area to buy and sell petrol sighted Pastor Okorie moving goods from the warehouse beneath the church,” the source disclosed.
Speaking further, he said after being inundated with reports on the illicit acts of the pastor, men of the F-SARS stormed the premises of Wonders of God’s Grace, one Wednesday to invite the cleric for questioning at their office.
“Upon getting to the church, the F-SARS officers never wanted the congregation to get wind of their discussion with the pastor. They only went there to invite him for questioning but the pastor became aggressive and resisted leaving the church at all. The officers even suggested he invited his lawyer and it was on the suggestion he called his counsel and agreed to go with them.”
Speaking further the source said, during investigation, the officers learnt from Chief Pius that there is hardly any night passing without his warehouse burgled anytime he took delivery of new clothing items, most of which he is the sole distributor in Kwara.
“The officers after gathering information decided to visit the pastor’s residence for a search and behold, they saw various collection and packs of clothes.
“As soon as the looted goods were discovered in his house, Okorie who was denying looting the warehouse started pleading for forgiveness while also blaming the devil for his involvement in the crime.
“In order to be left off the hook, the pastor attempted luring the officers with bribe but his overtures were out rightly turned down.”
Meanwhile, four traders in the area, who were alleged to have consistently bought the stolen goods at cheaper rates from the pastor have been arrested in connection with the crime and are reportedly helping SARS with further investigation.
The owner of the warehouse while narrating his ordeal to SARS was said to have claimed he now enjoys patronage perhaps because most of his customers now get the goods which he exclusively distributes in the state at lower cost elsewhere.
Efforts to get the reaction of the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP, Ajayi Okansanmi proved abortive as his mobile phone was unreachable.
